Echo
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In this guide
The quick answer
Choose Transcribe a File in Echo’s menu or Meetings window, then select your recording. Speech recognition runs on your Mac. Notes use your selected AI or Apple’s on-device model when available. Review the result in Meetings and copy or export it as Markdown.
Start with an audio or video file
Echo 1.2 and later turns an existing recording into a transcript and notes on your Mac. You can use common formats including M4A, MP3, WAV, MP4, and MOV. For video, Echo transcribes the audio; it does not describe the images on screen.
You need a Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 26. Complete Echo’s setup and its speech-model download first. Meetings and file transcription also use a small voice-detection model. Keep the recording available locally and make sure you can open and hear it before starting.
A clear recording gives recognition a better starting point. Overlapping voices, background music, very quiet speech, and unfamiliar names can all need correction. Processing time depends on the recording and your Mac; the illustrated website preview is not a speed benchmark.
Transcribe the recording
- Choose Transcribe a File… in Echo’s menu, or open Meetings and use its file-transcription action.
- Select your audio or video file and let Echo process it.
- Open the resulting item in Meetings to read the transcript and notes.
You can also hold Control, say “transcribe a file”, and release to open the file picker. Holding Control without speaking for two seconds leaves a clickable command menu open with the microphone off.
The transcript is produced by the speech model on your Mac. Notes use the AI selected in AI mode, or Apple’s on-device model in Off and Apple modes when available. Choose the mode before processing a recording whose transcript you want to keep local.
Review the details that matter
Read the summary to find the main points, then check the transcript against the source recording where precision matters. Pay particular attention to names, numbers, dates, technical terms, and any action item attributed to a person.
From Echo 1.3, you can also ask the chat below the notes, for example “What did they decide about the budget?”, then check the answer against the transcript. The chat can rework the notes too, and Undo puts the previous version back.
A practical review order
Check the title and summary.
Verify each decision against the recording.
Confirm names, deadlines, and action owners.
Keep unanswered questions visible.
A file’s audio track does not provide the separate microphone and call-audio channels of a live Echo meeting. Do not assume Echo will identify individual speakers by name. For future calls, you can instead record a meeting with Echo, which distinguishes You from Them.
Copy or export the result
In Meetings, select the processed recording and use the copy actions for its transcript or notes. Export as Markdown when you want a portable text document for a project folder or another writing app. To continue in a chat app, Send to… opens the notes in a new Claude or ChatGPT chat when that app is installed. Search the saved records to find it again later.
Deleting a saved transcription removes its Echo record. Your original source file remains a separate file to manage yourself. Echo’s saved record contains text, so keep the original recording if you will need to listen again.
If the result is missing or incomplete
First check that the source contains audible speech and opens normally on your Mac. Confirm that Echo’s speech model finished downloading and that the recording’s language is supported. A missing summary and a missing transcript are different problems: check the chosen AI’s availability if the transcript is present but notes could not be made.
For a local workflow, use prepared on-device models or a local AI. With a cloud AI, the transcript goes to that provider for the notes and the chat’s answers. Read how Echo’s AI choices work and the privacy details before choosing a mode.